SUBJECT
: GRUESOME MURDER
OF PROF. PAPIYA GHOSH
OF PATNA UNIVERSITY
AND MALTI DEVI ON
3 DECEMBER, 2006 AT
PATNA.

Respected Sir,

I have
addressed ‘Petitions’
to various Authorities
seeking justice in
the case of the gruesome
murder of my sister,
Prof. Papiya Ghosh
of the Department
of History of Patna
University, and her
domestic help, Malti
Devi, at Patna, on
3 December, 2006.

Copies
of some of these communications
have been sent to
your Office and in,
turn, they have been
forwarded to the Home
Department of the
Government of Bihar,
for necessary action.
However, I am constrained
to mention that the
State Government has
not sent a response
on the status of the
case. In particular,
I had requested for
information on the
arrest of the 2 (two)
absconding culprits,
Mustaqim and Sanjogi
Rai, and for expeditious
Trial of the case
which is proceeding
in the Fast Track
Court No. 5 of Patna
and bears ST No. 188,
State Vs. Ramachandra
Mahto.

As Chancellor
of Patna University,
I turn to you to please
ensure that justice
is not denied to Prof.
Ghosh, who was an
internationally acknowledged
academician, dedicated
to the cause of education
in Bihar and whose
life seems to have
been taken with utter
disregard for the
law of the land, for
no known reason. The
Website set up for
Prof. Ghosh, “Honouring
Papiya” at www.papiyaghosh.com
will provide an insight
into her academic
achievements, multi-faceted
personality and, most
importantly, how there
seems rather slim
chances of getting
to the root of her
savage murder.

It is
indeed highly disquieting
that this serious
matter has had to
be raised so many
times at so many administrative
levels and yet has
evoked only silence,
which is eloquent
in itself.

On the night of 2nd December, 2006 my
younger sister, Professor Papiya Ghosh was
murdered with indescribable brutality inside
her own house in Pataliputra Colony. Neither
was her aged, invalid maid, Malti Devi
spared. Prof. Ghosh’s house was also looted
of all items of value, big and small, with
the criminals even managing to drive away in
the victim’s own car.

As per the police statement, quoted in the
press, six armed dacoits had entered Prof.
Ghosh’s house and executed the heinous
crimes with impunity.

The killing of Prof.Ghosh was carried out
with a degree of savage brutality unheard of
and unparalleled in the state’s history.

The atrocities carried out have been the
most flagrant violations of women’s human
rights.

Prof. Papiya Ghosh was a scrupulously honest
citizen who lived on her own, and had
dedicated her life to the cause of higher
education in Bihar. I would request you to
kindly visit the website www.papiyaghosh.com
for more details about her works and life.

As a law abiding citizen, Prof. Ghosh
depended on the state to provide the
necessary security of life and property to
all its citizens.But things turned out to be
otherwise, and the worst kind of atrocities
against helpless women and fatal violation
of human rights took place. Incidentally her
house was a mere stone’s throw from the
Pataliputra police thana.

Subsequent to the horrific killings, four of
the murderous gang have been rounded up, and
put on trial. But the case, although
committed to a Fast Track court, is moving
at a slow pace.

And shockingly two of the culprits in the
reprehensible crimes, named by the police,
as quoted in the press, as Mustakeen and
Sanjogi Rai, still remain out of the reach
of the police even more than a year later,
in spite of numerous representations having
been made to the Chief Minister of Bihar,
for their speedy arrest.

On behalf of the grieving family, I appeal
to you to urge the Government of Bihar to
speedily apprehend the absconding criminals
and bring them to justice.